Adrian Goldsworthy

So in the same way, Achaemenid Persia, take that, you know, it's destroyed by Alexander the Great, but it isn't half incredibly successful for a very long time. So you can't, in the same way, if we live a healthy life and do and achieve things, we will eventually die. So you come to all these questions whereby nothing is going to be forever. but it could have been different.

I mean, there's a sense that's the sort of the fluffy view of the early medieval period rather than the Dark Ages, where, yes, it's just transformation. Okay, yeah, there's some violent bits along the way. But the problem is, again, you look at what had been before and what's there, standards of literacy, prosperity, even to the extent, I mean, look at someone like Vindolanda.

I mean, there's a sense that's the sort of the fluffy view of the early medieval period rather than the Dark Ages, where, yes, it's just transformation. Okay, yeah, there's some violent bits along the way. But the problem is, again, you look at what had been before and what's there, standards of literacy, prosperity, even to the extent, I mean, look at someone like Vindolanda.

I mean, there's a sense that's the sort of the fluffy view of the early medieval period rather than the Dark Ages, where, yes, it's just transformation. Okay, yeah, there's some violent bits along the way. But the problem is, again, you look at what had been before and what's there, standards of literacy, prosperity, even to the extent, I mean, look at someone like Vindolanda.

From the writing tablets and from the archaeology, you can see that even at the end of the first century, on the very fringe of the empire, all the goods, all the ideas of that imperial economy are available to you there.

From the writing tablets and from the archaeology, you can see that even at the end of the first century, on the very fringe of the empire, all the goods, all the ideas of that imperial economy are available to you there.

From the writing tablets and from the archaeology, you can see that even at the end of the first century, on the very fringe of the empire, all the goods, all the ideas of that imperial economy are available to you there.

That your ordinary soldier owns several pairs of shoes and has a pair to go to the bathhouse, has his boots, has his indoor shoes, and can afford when he loses one to throw the other one away, which we tend to find, and get some new ones.

That your ordinary soldier owns several pairs of shoes and has a pair to go to the bathhouse, has his boots, has his indoor shoes, and can afford when he loses one to throw the other one away, which we tend to find, and get some new ones.

That your ordinary soldier owns several pairs of shoes and has a pair to go to the bathhouse, has his boots, has his indoor shoes, and can afford when he loses one to throw the other one away, which we tend to find, and get some new ones.

A lot of people in the Middle Ages are going to be wearing their one pair of shoes until they fall apart and then getting another pair because that's all they've got. There are big, big differences. You could say somebody at the end of their life transforms from a living person into a corpse.

A lot of people in the Middle Ages are going to be wearing their one pair of shoes until they fall apart and then getting another pair because that's all they've got. There are big, big differences. You could say somebody at the end of their life transforms from a living person into a corpse.

A lot of people in the Middle Ages are going to be wearing their one pair of shoes until they fall apart and then getting another pair because that's all they've got. There are big, big differences. You could say somebody at the end of their life transforms from a living person into a corpse.

There is still something remarkable about that achievement, for good or for ill, of the Roman Empire, the Roman government, empire on that scale for so long. And the lifestyle that it created, you know, there's a fair bit of truth in Gibbon looking at the, you know, from the perspective of the later 18th century and talking about, you know, the best time to be alive is under the Antonines.

There is still something remarkable about that achievement, for good or for ill, of the Roman Empire, the Roman government, empire on that scale for so long. And the lifestyle that it created, you know, there's a fair bit of truth in Gibbon looking at the, you know, from the perspective of the later 18th century and talking about, you know, the best time to be alive is under the Antonines.

There is still something remarkable about that achievement, for good or for ill, of the Roman Empire, the Roman government, empire on that scale for so long. And the lifestyle that it created, you know, there's a fair bit of truth in Gibbon looking at the, you know, from the perspective of the later 18th century and talking about, you know, the best time to be alive is under the Antonines.

It's exaggerated, but if you look at the road systems, you know, that are not yet created in most European countries, people are still using the Roman roads. Nothing like that. There's so much about the Roman, even, I mean, a favorite one I would say is the bathhouse. where the Romans have devoted all that technology.

It's exaggerated, but if you look at the road systems, you know, that are not yet created in most European countries, people are still using the Roman roads. Nothing like that. There's so much about the Roman, even, I mean, a favorite one I would say is the bathhouse. where the Romans have devoted all that technology.

It's exaggerated, but if you look at the road systems, you know, that are not yet created in most European countries, people are still using the Roman roads. Nothing like that. There's so much about the Roman, even, I mean, a favorite one I would say is the bathhouse. where the Romans have devoted all that technology.

It's one of the most complicated things they design just to making life more pleasant. And this is something that goes. You see, it's the bathhouse that when villas are occupied in the post-Roman period in Britain, it's the bathhouse that first falls into disrepair and nobody can put it back again.